My First Dinner Fail.

I say first, because I am sure it will not be the last. And Jason really cooks much better then I do; he has an instinct for it or a nose or something that I clearly don’t have. If you don’t already know, Peru is the land of potatoes. They say over 3800 different kinds of potatoes.

When you go to the mercado, the amount of potatoes on the shelf is overwhelming. I never know which ones to pick, because I am used to red or Idaho (with a few in between, I suppose). Boil them, put in a little milk and butter, maybe some roasted garlic, and voila! delicious mashed potatoes.

Now see these are the potatoes I attempted to do it with:

Now anyone with half a brain can just look at those and know that they are not meant to be used for mashed potatoes. And if you felt them or picked one up, you’d half to be a moron to decide that the best way to use these was to mash them. Ok, lesson learned, especially since I have to order Domino’s since that’s the only place I can order online (Spanish is way too difficult at this stage to talk on the phone).

Two days ago I finally got to meet some of Jason’s colleagues. Goes to show that no matter where you are in the world, academia is academia, filled with fascinating and different people who know how to throw a good party with lots of eating, drinking. I’m not sure I had been in a place where I felt so “cosmopolitan” (despite my midwestern, under dressed attire). I will certainly have to invest in some more, scratch “more”, trendier dresses (although I am told that they are hard to come by in Lima, and I should have someone shop for me in the US) and more pumps (much to Jason’s chagrin, but to be fair, I only brought one nice pair of pumps here…).

Oh and on that note (well not really, more like a tangent, but was reminded of it because I had to take the dogs out). Why don’t Limenos pick up after their dogs? It’s gross. Oh and how much am I supposed to tip our doorman/maintanence guy? We pay a monthly maintanence fee, but he orders gas for me once a month, so should I tip him? Is it the American way to be over-tippers?

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5 responses to “My First Dinner Fail.”

I’m told that tipping waiters in restaurants is just not done here. I’m not sure if that carries over to the doorman or not. We did end up buying flowers for the maintenance ladies in our building who keep bringing us food, though: they seemed delighted.

I haven’t attempted mashed potatoes yet, but I’ve run across at least one variety that seems amenable to it. They’re large, kind of flat, brown with white flesh, and fairly smooth so they’re easy to peel. Unfortunately the tienda doesn’t label any of their produce, so I have no idea what they’re called : /

I know right? They take such good care of their lawns, you’d think they’d try to reinforce picking up after their pets. I hate to say all Limenos, because I do see some picking up after their dogs, but the majority don’t.

I will have to check out the Perricholi potato. Maybe I will have better luck with it. I also heard that the fish they use to make traditional ceviche is very expensive this time of year, but if we wait until November/December, the price goes down significantly. I’m looking forward to that, so I can make some at home.

And thanks for the advice on the flowers, and I think maybe I will bake them so “American” style cookies or food as a gift. It seems that is the most appropriate.

I think those potatoes definitely look mash-able.
And what a fun, fancy party!
I agree – a nice, little treat seems good for the doorman guy. Very homey and American 🙂 And it’s not as awkward as figuring how much to give, etc. And you don’t have to do it every month, I wouldn’t think….